Markets

MSE strikes the ‘gong’ in new avatar

NARAYANAN V Chennai | Updated on January 03, 2020 Published on January 03, 2020

Mobile app DailyGong offers a gamut of financial products

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often,” goes the old saying that holds true for the Madras Stock Exchange (MSE) — India’s fourth oldest bourse, and South India’s first.

Started in 1937, MSE played a crucial role in capital formation and industrialisation in the South, besides serving as a primary exchange to companies such as Ashok Leyland, Madras Cements, Tube Investments and MRF.

A shift from the earlier outcry system to online trading, thanks to the advent of technology, and the consequent emergence of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as a primary stock market platform sounded the death knell for regional stock exchanges, and MSE was no exception.

Many regional exchanges realised the obsolescence of their existing business models and embraced broking and depository businesses to stay relevant. In 2001, MSE followed suit, launching a subsidiary, MSE Financial Services Ltd (MSEFSL).

“MSE over the years had built a reputation for good corporate governance of companies listed in the exchange, superior regulatory compliance and for pioneering the concept of T+2 settlement,” said V Nagappan, Chief Mentor at MSEFSL, who was associated with MSE for several decades.

Consequent to an exit policy issued by SEBI, MSE exited the stock exchange business in 2015.

Leveraging tech

While other regional stock exchanges went into oblivion, MSE, via MSEFSL, decided to reinvent itself by investing in technology. Last year, it launched ‘DailyGong’, a mobile app that offers a range of trading transactions in equity, derivatives and currency market with a few clicks.

“We have been catering to old investors who have been with us for 20-25 years. The only way to cater to gen-next is to invest in technology. So we introduced DailyGong,” Nagappan said.

The company was able to generate a few thousand clients within a few months of its launch. Bolstered by the initial success, MSEFSL is now planning to widen its membership base. “Today 98 per cent of people don’t invest in the stock market. Even if 2 per cent is converted to invest in equity there is a big opportunity in Tamil Nadu and the entire South. We want to capture that,” Nagappan added.

Other plans

Plans are also afoot to bring mutual funds, fixed deposits and a whole gamut of financial products under DailyGong in the near future.

While digital transformation rendered it irrelevant earlier, MSE in its new avatar has leveraged the same technology to serve investors. If it gets its act right, it may even regain its lost glory.

Published on January 03, 2020

A letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.

Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.

In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.

We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.

But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.

I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.

A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!

Support Quality Journalism
stock exchanges
This article is closed for comments.
Please Email the Editor
You have read 1 out of 3 free articles for this week. For full access, please subscribe and get unlimited access to all sections.